278 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
the entrance upon them without excluding their com- 
panions, and thus giving them a chance of escape, 
we determined, as the most prudent course, to des- 
patch them forthwith. In less than a quarter of an 
hour three were shot dead. The young ones fell into 
the pits, but one of the four old ones made its escape 
through the entrance with six or eight balls in its 
head. 
The driving was tried again towards evening, and 
there is no doubt we should have secured them all in 
the course of the night, had not a fire unfortunately 
broke out which threatened the entrance of the en- 
closure. This was, nevertheless, prevented, though 
it burned with great rapidity and fierceness. Ex- 
traordinary exertions were used, but nothing could 
arrest its progress north and east, quite down to the 
edge of the enclosure, where it was stopped by the 
ditch. It was not got under until past midnight; 
thus many hours were lost, for there was no chance of 
being able to urge the elephants forward in the face of 
such an awful conflagration. Quiet, however, being 
at length restored, we anxiously looked forward to the 
morrow with hopes of more confirmed success. As 
you may suppose, we passed an anxious night. The 
least shift of the wind would have at once rendered 
all future efforts fruitless, and thus have baffled our 
anxious expectations. With the dawn it was dis- 
covered that a large male bison had fallen into one 
of the pits, and a noble creature it was. Its pugna- 
cious appearance, combining ponderous strength with 
extreme activity, its clear dark brown coat as glossy 
as that of a sleek Arabian charger, its ample and 
